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Posted on October 9, 2012
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Health
F as in Fat 2012: How Obesity Threatens America's Future
If obesity rates continue on their current trajectory, those for adults could reach at least 44 percent in every state and exceed 60 percent in thirteen states by 2020, a report from Trust for America's Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation finds. According to F as in Fat 2012: How Obesity Threatens America's Future (124 pages, PDF), adult obesity rates in 2011 exceeded 30 percent in twelve states; twenty-six of the thirty states with the highest rates were in the Midwest and South; and all ten states with the highest rates of type 2 diabetes and hypertension were in the South. If the average adult BMI (body mass index) was reduced by just 5 percent in each state, the report argues, no state would have an adult obesity rate above 60 percent, and every state except Florida would save between 6.5 percent and 7.8 percent in obesity-related healthcare costs. Among other things, the report calls for fully implementing existing obesity prevention initiatives, investing in evidence-based programs, expanding opportunities to promote physical education and activity, and connecting clinical care with prevention efforts.
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